Too Porky?

Hello Roy

We have just started training again (in the wind tunnel) with our 4-way team, after a bit of a break over winter. My piece partner, who is Tail, seems to have put on a lot of weight since we last flew. She says she’s put on 6 kg but it looks more than that. She’s the shortest person in the team and weighs more than anyone. She’s not exactly fat but she is definitely on the chubby side.

I’m pretty fit as I like to run and go to the gym but my natural build is tall and gangly. Last year I was jumping with 6 kg and wearing about 8 kg in the tunnel … but this week I had to wear 2 weight belts to keep up… about 14 kg!! I found it very tiring especially with verticals. My back was sore.

When you are tall and very skinny and your piece-partner is short and falls like a bomb, that isn’t exactly the perfect match!

At the end of the session I mentioned that I struggled wearing the extra weight and said I hoped that, as we resumed training, she would go back to her former weight. I tried to be as tactful as I could but it’s hard when I’m a guy and she’s a girl. She started crying so I gave her a big hug and said not to worry about it, as she was a great piece partner (because she is).

So, Roy, have you any thoughts about this? I don’t really want to wear another weight belt when we’re doing back-to-backs as it’s hard on my body already. Should I ask her to lose weight? Get a bigger suit? Would it help if we swapped position and I go Tail? Or should I just Suck it up (Cupcake)?

Thank you
Marc

Hello Marc

I guess there’s nobody that likes to wear weight belts for fun, but it can be an ideal solution to compensate small fall-rate issues. However, the amount of weight that you need to keep up with your teammates has to stay within a certain ratio. If you are normally jumping with 6 kg of weight, it should be no problem. Training with 8 kilo in the tunnel, start to become more uncomfortable for flying, but wearing 14 kilos of weight is over the top! I know there are many people jumping with heavy belts, but we also need to make a distinction between fun jumping and intensive team training.

Dead Weight

Wearing extremely heavy weight belts are not acceptable or even fun to train with. I guess once you pass the 10 kg benchmark it already starts to become tricky. Flying-wise, using to many kilos of ‘dead weight’ puts you out of your comfort zone and out of balance. A big percentage of your weight distribution hangs in the middle, and you cannot use a single gram of that for flying, especially when you have to do verticals. Flying with 14 kg of weight is just simply a pain in the ass, no matter how good you are. But enough said, I think it’s clear enough that in my opinion wearing so much weight is not recommendable.

Keep track of everyone’s personal weight; at the start of each training camp, put yourselves on the scale

Keep Track of your Weights

Generally speaking, a good thing to keep track of is everyone’s personal weight. Before each training camp, put yourselves on the scale. It takes just a few seconds, write it down in the book, and you’re done. It also can avoid discussions about the fall-rate. Often people say, ‘Oh, I didn’t gain weight at all’, but the jumpsuit tells a different story. Any team that takes the sport seriously or tries to get to the next level, simply knows that fitness and weights are important factors. With Hayabusa we try to ‘weigh in’ every camp, everyone has his ‘ideal weight’ that we try to achieve, or try to keep. It also stimulates the team to keep working on this area. Some people are lucky, they can eat what ever they want and don’t gain a gram, others even look at a sandwich and they gain half a kilo. But we need to be aware of our own weights, and the effect it has on the team fall-rate.

Balance

There are people that will be using weight belts for most of their skydiving career, I am one of them. Training with weights isn’t a problem at all, as long as you and your teammates fall-rate are in a certain range. I believe to enjoy team training to the fullest; you and your mates must be naturally in balanced. For example, when you are tall and very skinny and your piece-partner is short and falls like a bomb, that isn’t exactly the perfect match! Of course you can compensate with things like having a tighter or looser jumpsuit, but selecting people that are naturally in the same ‘range’ is the best and easiest solution.

Bursting into tears will not solve nothing either, for nobody.

Big-ways

Don’t get me wrong, when you are jumping big ways, or doing fun jumps with different people, or canopy piloting and wearing lots of weights, it might not be comfortable but it’s not such a big deal. However, doing serious 4-way is a different ball game.

Solutions

So what should you do with your team? Swapping positions isn’t the right solution; the fall-rate issue will be the same. Should you tell her to lose weight? For sure you should discuss this openly with your team and tell your problem or discomfort, I am sure they all noticed it anyway. You have to make a decision if you want to continue training like this or not. Bursting into tears will not solve nothing either, for nobody. When there is a problem we need to try to find solutions for it in the best way possible. Let’s say she is not willing to lose weight, and you are not able to gain weight, what are you going to do? That will be your choice of course.

Enjoy

Sometimes we have a great bunch of people together inside the same team, personality-wise they just fit great together, but each team has their own problems. Maybe yours are fall-rate issues… I hope you can come to a compromise that is healthy for everyone. Just remember, most important is that you are enjoying the team training and the company you’re in!

Good luck
Roy